There are many types of golf course and many ways in which we relate to them.
There are courses that are ideal for club golf – you want to play them again and again and again. You’ll never get bored.
There are courses that are great – but you know playing them once will do for you. They’re too tough.
There are courses that are great – and might forever be out of your grasp. They cost too much.
And then there are courses that just represent a fantastic day out. A day that leaves you with a smile on your face. A day that revives the golfing soul.
Here are five of the best in the UK.
North Berwick
If St Andrews is the home of golf, North Berwick is the second home.
East of Edinburgh the town has two golf courses and the most famous is named after the town (and it is the 13th oldest club in the world).
Like the Old Course it starts bang in town and your first and last biffs will be watched by dog walkers, strollers and holiday makers (hopefully your second shot won’t be watched by sunbathers on the beach).
The course is both a classic links test and also one with unique features such as the 13th green hidden behind a wall, the par-3 15th that has been copied around the world, and the 16th green – not only raised but with a gully running through the middle of it.
Classically original.
Elie
Also known as The Golf House Club this is a Kingdom of Fife course with a difference.
It’s not in St Andrews, but it is situated in the town of Elie so shares that unusual Old Course vibe.
On the first tee the starter will peer through an old submarine periscope to check the first fairway is free.
That’s fun and it sets the trend because this James Braid track is all about having fun.
The course winds towards the sea, wanders along the beach and then makes it way back to the clubhouse.
Pure Scottish escapism.
The Machrie
The idea of flying to and from a remote Scottish golf course in a day seems ridiculous to most golfers – and yet it is a possibility (and for a price that is very competitive set against most top quality courses).
For £285 you can fly from Glasgow to Islay, get a private transfer from the airport to The Machrie, have a breakfast roll and lunch in the hotel (Another Place) and enjoy 18 holes on a course that is high quality and fun.
A links track that you’ll first spot from the sky (how cool is that?), it twists between the dunes next to Laggan Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.
Guaranteed to make you smile and feel a million dollars.
Painswick
The best fun golf should feel like a childhood adventure- and childhood adventures tend to include hills, forts, castles and ruins.
Painswick is a golf course on top of a hill, that features fort and castle ruins.
How cool is that?
Very cool.
The holes are quirky, those ruins an integral part of the design, and there are outstanding views of the Malvern Hills, Cotswolds and Welsh mountains.
Aberdovey
What about a railway adventure to complete the five?
Aberdovey on the Welsh coast can be reached by direct train from Birmingham New Street.
The journey takes you through the rolling border country, through the Welsh mountains, and emerges on the dramatic Dovey estuary.
Shortly after pulling through the beautiful down of Aberdovey, which overlooks the estuary and the dunes beyond, there is a stop for the golf club.
You alight and are a gap wedge from the first tee.
The golf club was first built because of the railways, and the Midlands businessmen who financed and played it.
It remains a popular trip by train and the course is fantastic, featuring links beauty and championship level challenge.
It also has, in the 16th hole, what is arguably the finest short par-4 in British golf.
Just don’t hit a wild tee shot when the train goes past – or your ball might end up back in Birmingham.
Read next: Why England’s Golf Coast offers the best golf in England
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